Pacific Racing Team
Pacific Racing Team (officially named Animal Crossing Pacific Racing Team under the team's sponsorship contract with Nintendo) is a professional open-wheel motorsports team based in the Republic of Oplana. It is currently one of the dominant teams in the GPX Series. History in top-level series Formula 1 Despite operating since 1984 in lower formulae (specifically Formula Ford and Formula 3000), Pacific as a top-level formula racing team did not exist until 1993, when team principal Keith Wiggins announced his intention to officially race in Formula 1 for the 1994 season. Their first year in F1 was a disaster. Their car, named the "PR01", was never subjected to wind-tunnel testing, and only saw around 80 miles of pre-season running on track. It was based on technology used in the lower-level Formula 3000 category, and their engines, provided by Ilmor, were chronically underpowered in comparison to those used by their rivals. Every single race they entered ended due to crashes or mechanical failures. Despite upgrading their car, merging with Lotus' dying works team and installing a more powerful Ford engine inside their cars, the next year would not turn out to be much better than the last. The team only finishing 6 out of the 16 races they contested in 1995. Keith Wiggins would leave the team at the end of the season, requiring them to draft in Isaia Alves as their team principal for 1996 onwards. The period between 1996 and 2000 showed very few improvements from 1995, with the team consistently running with backmarkers such as Minardi, Arrows and Prost. After the 2001 season, the team would terminate its F1 efforts. GPX In 2002, Pacific entered the GPX Series, a then-newly created top-level series which was becoming popular with smaller privateers and ex-F1 teams. It was here where Pacific started to see success, with the team claiming a number of top-10 finishes and even an outright race win during the 2002 season. 2003 saw the team rise to become one of the most competitive on the grid, with Pacific scoring several podium finishes over the year, culminating in them winning the GPX Teams Championship. Over the period of 2004-2015, Pacific won the Teams Championship in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2014. Pacific's 2016 season would be their worst since 1994. After switching to Honda engines, the team saw innumerable retirements due to mechanical problems, and the races they did finish saw them crossing the line in the same positions as midfield teams. Their situation was compared by many to the suffering of McLaren Honda during the same year in F1. Pacific would take a radical new approach for 2017. Their on-track appearance was drastically altered by signing a sponsorship contract with Nintendo, which saw the team's appearance themed after the Animal Crossing franchise. Characters from the series would appear in many of the team's promotional materials, as well as on their cars. The cars themselves would also be upgraded - the team would terminate their Honda engine supply contract, switching to Ferrari power. The first race of the season would go on to be dominated by the newly-renamed "Animal Crossing Pacific Racing Team", and they would go on to win that year's team championship. Formula 1 would fold into GPX for the 2018 season, leading to a shake-up of drivers at several teams. AC Pacific would give Fernando Alonso, a former McLaren driver, a race seat that year. His performance, however, was underwhelming - he would be removed from the team and return to McLaren mid-season, with Nobita Nobi occupying his vacated position. This hiring marked the first ever instance of a realised character entering high-level motorsport as a driver.